Frozen Mountain Range (3)

“…What? Looking closely, it’s a human?”

Her red eyes glowed. Contrasted with her blue hair, they seemed even more vivid. Gaolise stared at me with surprised eyes as I stood there unharmed. It wasn’t that I wasn’t affected at all, but I let her misunderstand as she pleased.

After analyzing it in real-time, I confirmed that the magic circle had the effect of suppressing magic use by absorbing Mana along with mental restraint. Probably even a 6th-class magician would collapse without even being able to lift a finger.

The reason I didn’t crumble was simply because I possessed a mental fortress close to an iron wall and a vast amount of Mana.

“A real human? How did they endure it?”

“…….”

I didn’t answer rashly. I conserved information as much as possible. Hiding my Mana, concealing my power. Gaolise wasn’t a very high-ranking Demon, so she easily fell for simple tricks.

“Whatever. You idiots! Gather around!”

At her shrill shout, the trolls surrounded her.

No fewer than ten of them.

The trolls followed Gaolise’s words surprisingly well.

―Ga-olk!

―Ga-olk olk!

“It’s creepy, so speak quietly!”

―Ga-olk…!

“Don’t kill them, just put them all in the cave. We need to use them as sacrifices later.”

―Ga-olk! Ga-olk!

“You can play with them, but if they die, I’ll chop off all your heads! Do you think gathering sacrifices is so easy?! It’s the same if they escape, so watch them carefully.”

The trolls puffed out hot air and hoisted up those who had fallen.

―Gao-olk…?

One of the trolls looked at me and spoke.

It felt like it was asking, “What about that one?”

“Huh? Of course, that bitch should be locked up too! Do I have to explain everything one by one?!”

That was the correct answer.

As a few trolls approached me, my mind raced.

‘I didn’t expect a Demon. Should I just kill them all and escape?’

Killing them itself was easy.

I could slaughter them so they couldn’t even utter a word.

However, the Mana-absorbing magic circle was too bothersome for that. Small-scale magic would be eaten up by Gaolise’s magic circle.

To use magic, I had to output more power than the magic circle absorbed, but looking at the scale covering the entire mountain range, the magic I could use while ignoring it was…

Meteor.

Earthquake.

Frozen Tempest.

Thunderstorm.

‘Shit.’

Magic that only dragons would use.

I couldn’t destroy the entire mountain range just to kill those bastards. Of course, the knight and adventurers would all die too. It’s not that I’m feeling a sense of revulsion towards killing now, but I didn’t want to kill innocent people.

Of course, the knight deserved to die. That bitch.

Should I just run away instead?

No one would blame me even if I ran away.

It would be strange not to run away after encountering a Demon.

‘She said they wouldn’t kill me. For now… let’s follow them.’

She said they would use me as a sacrifice, so they would keep me alive. Let’s look for an opportunity until then. If it really doesn’t work out, I can’t help it.

I’ll have no choice but to kill them all and escape.

And if they kill the hostages first, contrary to their promise, I will draw my sword.

‘And… it might not be so bad.’

Yeah. Let’s think positively.

I wondered if what I was thinking was really ‘good,’ but what did it matter? I spread my arms to the troll approaching me, indicating that I had no intention of resisting.

The troll grunted in a low tone, then raised its hand high―

-Peo-uk!

―And I got hit just like that.

“Keo, keue…?”

The impact on my stomach. I convulsed and collapsed pathetically with a sound of air escaping. It felt like a few ribs were broken. My body trembled. The troll puffed out satisfied air and hoisted me up like luggage. …Right, these bastards were trolls. There was no way they could communicate with humans. Gaolise, who communicated with the troll, was a Demon.

“Heueueu….”

A moan of pain exhaled hot breath. Was it steam from the cold, or was it for another reason? Even while lamenting my situation, I couldn’t lower the corners of my raised mouth.

* * *

“Geu-oh-olk!!”

The knight and her party, including me, were thrown into a frost cave deep inside. It was quite deep. It took more than ten minutes just to get down.

Because I stupidly didn’t cover my eyes, I remembered all the primary escape routes… but it didn’t seem easy to get out. I needed another escape route to get out.

Besides, these troll bastards locked up the women and men separately.

Among the party, there were only me and the knight who were women… A bad feeling suddenly came over me. No way. It couldn’t really be.

Unfortunately, most of the time when I thought like this, it became reality. I knew from experiencing it through the hooded man and the tentacles. Reality always exceeded imagination. Shit, did I know I would be raped while being dismembered?

Of course, it’s not that I hate it. No, I mean. Haa.

But really surprisingly, the trolls were still. They were just guarding the front of the cave like gatekeepers, not doing anything.

My face turned red.

Only I, who had strange fantasies, became a pervert.

At this point, I had no choice but to seriously contemplate.

‘Am I really a masochist?’

Did I become a masochist after falling into this other world, or was I originally a masochist? Or am I just a pervert? Even agonizing like this was truly miserable and pathetic.

I covered my head in self-deprecation.

“Euk….”

The pain of the broken ribs was quite alright. It was strangely satisfying that I couldn’t breathe well.

‘…I am a masochist.’

Still, still-oo. What can I do if it feels good? The sensation of being driven to the brink of death, there’s really no other way to describe it than ecstatic. The haziness when I can’t breathe, the feeling of powerlessness right before consciousness flies away, the illusion of my brain burning when my flesh is torn. All of it was lovely.

“Haa…….”

As I sighed and turned my gaze to the side, the knight who was sprawled out haphazardly came into view. Her sword was taken away, and her armor was stripped off. Fortunately, they didn’t take off her inner garment made of cloth, so there was no problem in terms of warmth. She wouldn’t freeze to death. Still, just in case she woke up, I shook her body back and forth, but she didn’t even show any signs of opening her eyes.

Why is a knight’s magic resistance so low?

Am I abnormally high?

Fortunately, they only locked us up and didn’t restrain us separately, so I could move freely.

I looked at the troll standing guard in front of the cave and thought.

‘If I kill that guy, they’ll all rush in….’

There’s no other way yet. The magic circle was still running. Fortunately, it didn’t stop the reconstruction. I tried cutting my arm and regenerating it as a test, and it worked fine. The speed was slower, but it still worked.

‘Do I really have to sit tight?’

I suddenly became depressed.

I escaped my room because I thought I would really go crazy if I didn’t do anything.

But now you’re telling me to stay still again?

‘Should I just kill them all and escape―’

-Kung! Kung!

―As I was seriously contemplating, I heard a loud footstep. The troll guarding the front of the cave tensed up and trembled. Something was coming.

It wasn’t Gaolise. There was no way she, with all her limbs intact, would make such a noise.

“Mio-roh! Mio-olk!”

Following Ga-olk, Mio-olk?

The troll’s language was difficult.

-Kung! Kung!

Another violent footstep echoed.

“Geu-olk, Mio-olk!”

The troll, who shouted Mio-olk again, finally started to run away. I swallowed hard and prepared for the existence that was about to come.

Gathering Mana and forming a linked hand seal. Because of Gaolise’s magic circle, there was no denying that I had excessively increased the output, but it was better than a dog’s death. Dying painfully, maybe… but instant death is not my taste.

But…

―Human!!!

“What the…”

I had even prepared to overturn the earth and formed a linked hand seal, but when I faced the existence in front of me, it became useless. It wasn’t that it was neutralized or anything like that. It would be more accurate to say that I was so dumbfounded that I didn’t even think of using it.

-Kuu-ung!!

―Human woman!! I found you!!!

A giant monster with a black cow’s head and a human body.

“A, a Minotaur?”

Why is hyung there?

―That’s right!! I am!! A Minotaur!! Gaolise-nim’s!! Loyal subordinate!! The warden of the Frost Cave!!!

The Minotaur proudly introduced his position. It would have been bearable if he wasn’t shouting so loudly that my ears were ringing.

I covered my bursting ears and looked up at the cow head. It seemed to be at least 3 meters tall. Maybe it looked a little bigger than 3 meters because his whole body was muscular.

The cow head, who looked a little dim-witted, ‘lifted up’ one of the trolls trembling nearby and said.

―Gaolise-nim!! Order!! Speak!!!

“Gao-olk!! Geu-olk keureureuk, hao-olk!!!”

The troll’s height was also quite tall, but in front of the Minotaur, he was just a midget. The Ice Troll trembled like an aspen tree. The Minotaur seemed to understand the troll’s words and shouted “Aalrightaa!!” and then ‘threw’ him as he was.

-Kao-olk…

The troll died instantly as soon as he hit the wall.

‘Crazy.’

This bastard was a crazy cow.

Literally a mad cow 狂牛.

―Permission!! Granted!! You!! Are my toy!!

To, toy?

It seemed that the troll had conveyed Gaolise’s order, ‘You can play with them, but don’t kill them.’ as it was.

―I’m going to!! Play with you!!!

The Minotaur bent down and stared directly into my eyes. The distance narrowed in an instant. It was so close that I could feel the hot air he was breathing all over my body. The black eyes of the cow head scanned my body stickily. I flinched and trembled at the strange sensation.

-Kwaddeudeudeuk!!

The Minotaur roughly tore off the iron bars and threw them away.

The crazy cow glanced at the fallen knight once, but soon turned his head as if he had no interest. Is it because he prefers the living over unconscious dolls? The Minotaur’s attention was focused solely on me.

The cow head’s huge physique was enough to cover my entire body with just his lower body. He was clearly bending down to look at me at the same height, but for some reason, it felt like he was looking down on me. Just because he was bending down didn’t mean his size was getting smaller.

―Don’t die!!! Don’t you dare!! Die!! Or you’ll die by my hand!!!

The difference in height between him and me was more than double.

In terms of size alone, it was more than triple.

“A, eu….”

A difference in class that I didn’t dare to look up at.

I lowered my eyes and trembled.

Submission.

And surrender.

In the face of this overwhelming size, I felt that I couldn’t win as a human, as a woman.

Of course, thoughts were just thoughts… but the fact that I had such thoughts was very embarrassing.

I lowered my head deeply and pressed down on the hem of my skirt with both hands.

“Heu, heueue….”

To hide the fact that I was excited.